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Self-Reliance
There is much evidence to indicate that Paul's wrestlings with the beliefs of the flesh were no less poignant than were those of Job. Recognizing the seeming power of materiality as expressed in the laws of the flesh, and in apparent distress, the Apostle wrote to his friends in Rome, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Paul, in common with mankind, was seeking a way out of the distresses and discomforts of existence, which at times seemed about to overwhelm him. That his doubtings as to his means of salvation, grievous as they were, were brief, is indicated in the verse in his epistle to the Romans immediately following that quoted above. With an assured note of triumph, and in keen discrimination between the demands of Spirit and the seeming claims of the flesh, he exclaimed: "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God."
The reader of Paul's writings is impressed with his great assurance of God's presence, goodness, and power, as taught and exemplified by Christ Jesus. He is a convincing example to the Christian world of independent thinking, typifying the mental state wherein one looks to God rather than to men to guide his footsteps, to direct him in all his ways.
Christian Scientists are well aware of the necessity incumbent upon them always, so far as practicable, to make their own demonstration through looking prayerfully to God. "'Work out your own salvation,'" was Mrs. Eddy's loving admonition in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 22), repeating the words of Paul. On page 23, in writing of self-reliance and confidence, she says: "One kind of faith trusts one's welfare to others. Another kind of faith understands divine Love and how to work out one's 'own salvation, with fear and trembling.'" And she closes the paragraph with these words: "The injunction, 'Believe . . . and thou shalt be saved!' demands self-reliant trustworthiness, which includes spiritual understanding and confides all to God." The Christian Scientist strives for the attainment of just that type of faith which enables him to look to God as the source and sustainer of his being, the Giver of both strength and wisdom.
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January 5, 1924 issue
View Issue-
Both Wings in Use!
FLORENCE BERTRAM HAMILTON
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Church Business Meetings
MURIEL C. BERRY
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Honesty
FRANCES MACK MANN
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"None good but one"
ROBERT ELLIS KEY
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The Sunlight of Joy
MABELLE C. CATHCART
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"A grain of Christian Science"
WILLIS REED BURDICK
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My Prayer
CLARA F. INGALLS
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Strange as it may seem, although mankind has read the...
Harry L. Rhodes, Committee on Publication for the State of Kansas,
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The Christianity practiced, preached, and taught by...
W. K. Primrose, Assistant Committee on Publication for Great Britain and Ireland,
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Christian Science is not a cult or system of religious rites...
Aaron E. Brandt, Committee on Publication for the State of Pennsylvania,
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Christian Science thoroughly agrees with the view that...
Lester B. McCoun, Committee on Publication for the State of Nebraska,
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Christian Science is the Science of divine healing, because...
Willard J. Welch, Committee on Publication for the State of Iowa,
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A tree is judged by its fruit; as one "thinketh in his...
Birgman C. Odom, Committee on Publication for the State of Texas,
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Christian Science is in no way similar to the theory and...
Charles W. Hale, Committee on Publication for the State of Indiana,
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God's Perfect Day
FLORENCE GERTRUDE INGWERSEN
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Self-Reliance
Albert F. Gilmore
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Power to Think Rightly
Duncan Sinclair
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"The high goal"
Ella W. Hoag
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The Lectures
with contributions from G. P. Marrie, John A. C. Fraser, Harriet D. Gant, James Johnston, Osmer E. Smith, William M. Marsh, John D. Ritter
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Through studying "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures"...
Sydney H. Hassell
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With a heart filled with gratitude I wish to testify to...
Magdalena Richter
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My first acquaintance with Christian Science came...
John M. Welch
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In the early part of 1918, I was taken suddenly ill with...
Ethel R. Chandler
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A little over four years ago, the healing efficacy of Christian Science...
George P. Klasgye with contributions from Kate Klasgye
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For over four years our family of three have relied entirely...
Florence M. Weber with contributions from Edgar P. Weber
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About twelve years ago my attention was directed to...
William P. Hawke
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Signs of the Times
with contributions from Canon Buchanan, Charles Pease, Charles W. Bishop, G. Campbell Morgan, J. D. Freeman